Pineau d'Aunis rocks!

Drinking a lovely, bright, elegant, fresh red from the Loire. It’s a varietal Pineau d’Aunis, and it’s one of those wines that is both non-serious and drinkable, and yet also serious at the same time.

Pineau d’Aunis is a brilliant grape variety. It’s a bit like Pinot Noir, in that it produces lighter red wines with complexity and elegance, although it is also a bit spicier. It reminds me a bit of Kadarka, the Hungarian variety that I have fallen for this year. Read all about it via Loire authority Richard Kelley.

The wine in question was purchased for under £10 in Cave de Pyrene’s recent bin-end clearance, and it’s just so drinkable I wish I’d bought a case. It’s a wine that I suspect drinks very well young, and so I’ll be on the look out for more recent vintages.

3 comments to Pineau d’Aunis rocks!

I’m afraid with Pineau d’Aunis I usually prefer the rosés to the reds; in the latter there is often a mismatch between texture and fruit, and in the Coteaux du Loir there are sometimes issues with ripeness, even from the best growers. The rosés can be very attractive; in terms of style they sit, with Grolleau, on the more elegant, perfumed, fragrant side of the rosé-fence.

Firstly, thanks for the plug, Jamie… Those interested in tasting what I consider to be the definitive Pineau d’Aunis red, should seek out a bottle of ‘Rouge Gorge’ from Domaine de Belliviere in the Coteaux du loir.